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PHILADELPHIA – It took only one play for Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer to exploit the Eagles' secondary.

Granted, Palmer's target, wide receiver John Brown, dropped the long pass that would have gone for a 78-yard touchdown on the first play of the game after cornerback Eric Rowe was easily beat on a simple route.

It ended up not mattering as the Cardinals put together an eight-play, 78-yard touchdown drive that culminated in a 1-yard touchdown run by running back David Johnson. But Palmer and the Cardinals clearly had attacking the Eagles' secondary as an emphasis in their offensive game plan. When Arizona did fail to connect through the air, it was more a result of a Cardinals miscue rather than an Eagles defender making a great play. The Cardinals' air attack helped them beat the Eagles 40-17 as they became the fifth consecutive team to record 400-plus yards of offense against Philadelphia.

"We didn't get a whole lot of pressure up front early on," Davis said. "They're a highly efficient offense. They're one of the tops in the NFL for a reason. They did a nice job protecting. When we had pressure, it wasn't enough. We didn't play well enough in the rush. We didn't play well enough in coverage. We didn't play well enough in the tackling or run game. It was a bad game."

The lack of a consistent Eagles pass rush gave Palmer plenty of time to peruse and find openings in the defense. The Eagles recorded only one sack in the first half, courtesy of Fletcher Cox, who has harassed opposing quarterbacks all season long. That was one of the few times the Eagles made Palmer uncomfortable in the pocket. Palmer completed 20 of 30 passes for 274 yards and one touchdown with a 100.3 quarterback rating.

John Brown had at least three drops, all costly, in the first half against the Eagles, two of which cost Arizona touchdowns. Besides the gaffe on the game's opening play, Brown dropped in the end zone a perfectly-thrown pass from Palmer that would have given Arizona a 14-3 lead in the first minute of the second quarter. Instead, the Cardinals had to settle for a field goal to go ahead 10-3. Brown also failed to haul in a third-down pass that would have picked up a first down and moved the Cardinals into field goal range.

Dropped passes from his receivers was Palmer's greatest hindrance Sunday night against the Eagles. The Cardinals ran the ball well enough that it prohibited the Eagles from dropping extra defenders into coverage. They finished with 230 total rushing yards and averaged 5.9 yards per carry against the Eagles' defense.

"Bad showing on defense across the board the entire game," linebacker Connor Barwin said. "That's a talented offensive team that for us we have to be pretty close to perfect to play well against them. We didn't and they took advantage of it."

The Eagles' secondary took a blow with the loss of Rowe, who suffered a concussion near the end of the second quarter and did not return, and a banged up Bryon Maxwell, who left the game in the second quarter to get X-rays on his left shoulder. Palmer immediately exploited backup cornerback Jaylen Watkins, Rowe's replacement, during the Cardinals' first drive of the third quarter. With Watkins in coverage, Palmer delivered a ball to Michael Floyd, and the wideout made a great play for a 28-yard catch that set up Arizona on the Eagles' half-yard line. Johnson ran the ball into the end zone on the next play for a 23-10 Cardinals lead following a missed extra point to cap an eight-play, 87-yard drive.

Maxwell's backup, E.J. Biggers, wasn't safe from being targeted by Palmer, either. Two possessions after Johnson's score, Palmer found John Brown along the Cardinals' sideline, and Biggers whiffed on the tackle resulting in a 16-yard touchdown for a 20-point Arizona lead. Missed tackles thwarted the Eagles' defense and often turned what would have been limited pick ups in yardage into sizable gains or touchdowns.

The plan, Biggers said, was to keep the Cardinals' receivers in front of them and not get beat deep. However, that strategy let Palmer to hit open receivers underneath and allowed them to chew up additional yards after the catches.

"I missed [a tackle] on the sideline and the guy scored – that can't happen," Biggers said. "That hurts the team. I can't speak for anybody but myself, but that was a missed tackle that really hurt."

Maxwell had some ugly moments in the first half, including the sequence that saw Cardinals tight end Darren Fells haul in a catch over the middle of the field and then drag Maxwell for nearly 20 yards as the Eagles' cornerback tried to bring him to the ground.

While Palmer exposed the secondary, they can't be solely blamed for the defense's failure to bottle up the Cardinals' offense. Without putting pressure on Palmer – the Eagles forced only one 3-and-out in the first half, aided by a Cardinals holding penalty – Philadelphia's defense didn't have much of a chance against the Cardinals.